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Monday, September 5, 2016

Thinking About Soap

Apparently bar soap has developed a bad reputation.Sales have fallen 5% over the last 5
years.This CNN story from late last
month tells us:“Forty eight percent of
consumers think bar soaps can be a haven for bacteria…Young consumers [18-24]
believe this the most, with 60%” of them worried about germs on the soap.To justify this silliness, many simply
believe "Bar soap is for old people."

Silliness, indeed!Think about it for a minute.You
come in from the garden, for instance, and wash your hands.You have dirt and germs on your hands.When you finish washing, are there germs left
on the soap?Yes.Are there germs left on your hands and on the
towel?Yes, a few.But having a few germs left behind, unless
they are the really dangerous kind, is not dangerous and helps your immune
system maintain vigilance against all the germs you are exposed to every day.

What about all those germs on the soap?You come in again and wash your hands, which
already have germs on them.Both the
germs from the garden and from the soap are washed down the drain again with
very few left on your hands.

Some people say you should rinse the germs off the soap
first.Others say you should have a
separate bar for each member of the family.Well, the CDC, the people who watch out for our health, actually has
instructions on hand washing.The first
steps are to wet your hands with clean, running water, turn off the tap, and
apply soap, then lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap.No mention of the need to rinse germs off the
soap or have a separate bar for each person.Also, don’t you think you are exposed to family germs in many more ways
than what’s left on the soap (and mostly washed down the drain)?

The science on the subject is clear.In 1988 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published
the results of research showing “little hazard exists in routine handwashing
with previously used soap bars” and strongly endorsing “the frequent use of
soap and water for handwashing to prevent the spread of disease.”

In 2007 The New York Times reiterated the advice in an
article:“Does sharing soap within the
family spread germs?”Their conclusion –
“washing even with contaminated bar soap is unlikely to transfer bacteria.”

A 2015 NPR headline read:“Your Soap Has Bacteria In It, But It Still Gets You Clean.”And Huffington Posts explains: “Germs can and
most likely do live on all bars of soap, but it’s very unlikely they will make
you sick or cause a skin infection…If you are healthy, your body will have no
problem fending off the germs.”

People, who want to ignore this advice, argue that
we should use antibacterial soap to be really safe, but the FDA recently banned
19 ingredients from antibacterial soaps.Here is a rather long excerpt from a CBS News story quoting an FDA press
statement:“Consumers may think
antibacterial washes are more effective at preventing the spread of germs, but
we have no scientific evidence that they are any better than plain soap and
water.In fact, some data suggests that
antibacterial ingredients may do more harm than good over the long-term.”Knowledge about the effects of certain
chemicals that may be absorbed by the body from antibacterial products is
lacking.

There are two additional concerns.One is that the widespread use of
antibacterial products can lead to further development of “super bugs,” similar to overuse of prescribed antibiotics.Another concern is the effects of excessive cleanliness on the body's ability
to build normal immunity to bacteria, especially for children.

So where does this baseless reaction to bar soap come
from?Germs are invisible and can be
deadly.That’s a scary combination.Plus, who wants to be acting like old people
when there is so much pressure to be cool and hip? Add to that the constant and rapid spread of
misinformation on social media, enhanced by the habit of not verifying,
suspecting or even clearly thinking it through.Throw in that many Americans don’t appreciate how lucky they are to have
any kind of soap and running water, and you have a recipe for unreasonable
behavior.Today it’s soap, tomorrow
something else.

Get a grip!No one
has the time or energy to worry about everything.If the fear of germs on soap is a big enough worry
to take action on, something is seriously out of proportion.

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About Me

is highly qualified to comment on the connection between our behavioral choices and the results we get. His formal education and training in observing and classifying behavior is supported by more than 40 years of practical business experience and 10 years of personal research. He is a West Point graduate with two Master’s degrees in business.
He is also a published author, Master Gardener and RYT200 yoga teacher.